Saeukkang facts for kids
 |
|||||||
| Alternative names | Shrimp Cracker, Prawn Cracker | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Type | Snack | ||||||
| Place of origin | South Korea | ||||||
| Created by | Calbee, Nongshim | ||||||
| Invented | 1971 | ||||||
| Main ingredients | Rice, shrimp, sour mayonnaise wasabi | ||||||
| 435 kcal (1821 kJ) | |||||||
|
|||||||
| Other information | official website: http://eng.nongshim.com/brand/saewookkang/main/index | ||||||
Saeukkang (Hangul: 새우깡) is a super popular South Korean snack! It's also known as a Shrimp Cracker. The company Nongshim has been making these tasty treats since 1971. Each bag usually holds about 90 grams of these crunchy shrimp crackers. That's about 4-5 sheets of crackers. They come packaged in special parchment paper to keep them fresh.
Contents
History
How Saeukkang Got Its Name
The word 'Saeu' means shrimp in Korean. When Nongshim President Shin Choon-ho was trying to find a good name for his new shrimp snack, he got a fun idea. His daughter was trying to say 'Arirang' (아라랑), which is a famous Korean folk song. But she accidentally said 'Arikkang' (아리깡) instead! This gave him the idea for the 'kkang' part of the name.
Developing the Snack
The Nongshim company got their idea from a popular Japanese snack called Kappa Ebisen, made by Calbee. Nongshim wanted to make their own version. They spent more than a year trying to figure out how to make a similar snack. It was especially hard to find the perfect temperature to cook the crackers. During this time, they used a lot of ingredients. They used about 360 tons of flour and many shrimp to get the recipe just right!
Saeukkang's Success Story
When Saeukkang was first released, it was a huge hit! Its slogan was We make our foods using our technology. Before Saeukkang, Nongshim was a smaller company. But this snack helped them grow into one of the biggest food and drink companies in South Korea.
Many trucks from all over South Korea came to Nongshim's factory in Daebang-dong just to buy Saeukkang. Only three months after it came out, Nongshim's sales went up by an amazing 350%! With this extra money, Nongshim was able to create other successful snacks. These included Banana Kick in 1978, Honey Twist Snack in 1979, and Potato Chip in 1980.
By 2013, over 7.5 billion packages of Saeukkang had been sold! Today, you can find Saeukkang in 76 different countries. You might even see it in stores like Walmart in the United States or Taobao in China.
Different Kinds of Saeukkang
Nongshim makes several different types of Saeukkang. Besides the regular 90-gram bag, they also have other sizes:
- Mini Saeukkang (a smaller 30-gram bag)
- Deluxe Saeukkang (a much bigger 400-gram bag)
Nongshim also offers Saeukkang with different flavors for you to try:
- Spicy Saeukkang
- Rice Saeukkang
- Sweet & Sour Chicken Saeukkang
Marketing Saeukkang
TV Commercials
You might have seen famous Korean actor and model Lee Jong-suk in Saeukkang commercials. You can watch one of his ads here: [1].
Since the snack first came out, it has used a very famous slogan. The slogan is "손이 가요~ 손이 가~새우깡에 손이 가요". This roughly means "Grab some here, grab some there. Grab Saeukkang anywhere." This slogan has been so popular that it is still used in Saeukkang ads even today!
Saeukkang Fan Clubs
Saeukkang is so loved that there are about 100 fan clubs for it! These clubs are on Korea's biggest website, Naver. People of all ages, both younger and older, are part of these fan clubs.
See also
- Nongshim
- Snack
- Prawn Cracker
- Kappa Ebisen
